Wellington - A New Zealand man has reportedly been charged with
the grisly crime of pinching two human toes from an exhibition of
real human bodies in Auckland.
The 28-year-old appeared in the Auckland District Court on Monday
charged with improperly interfering with the dead body of an unknown
person, the New Zealand Herald reported.
The plastinated toes the man tried to take home in May from Gunther
von Hagens' Body Worlds Vital exhibition were worth 5,500 New Zealand
dollars (3,808 dollars) each.
The travelling exhibition was created by Angelina Whalley and her
husband physician and anatomist Gunther von Hagens.
Hagens developed a preservation process known as plastination in the
1970s while he was working at the University of Heidelberg to teach
students about anatomy.
Since 1995, more than 45 million visitors in over 121 cities in
America, Europe, Asia and Africa have seen the travelling exhibition,
which featured more than 150 anatomical specimens of real human
bodies.
More than 17 000 volunteers have donated their bodies to von Hagens'
Institute for Plastination, which also sends specimens to medical
schools around the world